Thursday, May 24, 2018

Yarloop is a small saw milling town on the South Western Highway between Perth and Bunbury.

Yarloop was wiped out a couple of years ago by a devastating bush fire, with a number of lives lost. Just up the road is the town of Harvey where today a large number of fires are burning, with winds currently gusting a 70+ kph. Gusts of up to 120kph are forecast.

Thursday, May 17, 2018

“Follow the money.” That Watergate meme is now poised to dominate the Donald Trump-Michael Cohen investigation for this news cycle — and beyond. The impetus is a document released by lawyer Michael Avenatti, confirmed by the New York Times, that revealed that a shell company Cohen created and used to pay off the porn star Stormy Daniels received $500,000 from a company linked to a Russian oligarch with ties to Vladimir Putin.

That’s not all. Cohen’s shell company, Essential Consultants LLC, received a total of $4.4 million in payments from a range of sources with an interest in influencing Trump, including the pharma giant Novartis AG, Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. and AT&T Inc., seeking to pull off its merger with Time Warner Inc.

The giant question that follows from the payments to Cohen is what they were for — and whether any of the money in the shell company made its way into any entities owned or controlled by Trump himself.

The tremendous irony in all of this, and there are many, is that on the very day this article appeared on Bloomberg, Trump had a rally in Indiana where he led a chant of "Drain the Swamp" (I've tried to embed the video, but clearly my time away from Blogger has made me rusty).

I know, I know. Trump rejected the money just like Sarah Huckabee-Sanders stated at the press conference, which proves he's draining the swamp.

If you believe that, then the alligators that have come from the swamp that Trump just drained have just flown past your window wearing pink tutus.

Over here we have an entire thread of criticism of the Labour budget by supposed right-wing "fiscal conservatives", with their furious writings based on the fact Labour didn't spend as much as National did last year.

Adolf saw an interesting opinion piece the other day, on the possibility of a rapprochement between the USA and Russia.

Later in another piece, there were a couple of phrases which, as I like to say, fell out and clattered onto the floor.

"......The Geneva Agreement had all the underpinnings of the Munich Agreement. The comparison is apt. Just as Munich gave Hitler more time to build up his Panzers, the Geneva Agreement gave the mullahs ten years to build the bomb.

Just as in 1930s the world failed to stop Hitler, while the viper was still in its crib, and tolerated Germany's violations of the Treaties of Versailles to allow her to rearm, the world de facto allowed Iran to ignore United Nations Security Council resolutions and continue the development of a nuclear weapon. Just as Britain sold Czechoslovakia out in 1938 to appease Hitler, the United States sold Israel out in 2013 to appease Iran........"

and"Western democracies that failed to prevent two world wars suffer historical amnesia and appear to be unconcerned with the replay of Munich. Feeling safe under the American military umbrella, the leaders of the UK, France, and Germany have been imploring Trump to salvage the accord with Iran. Just as in the 1930s, the slippery slope of greed and appeasement is driving Europe toward more disasters. Paraphrasing Lenin, they are vying with each other for the rope contract."

For some time now I've wondered about these and other similarities between geo-politics of the late 1930s and those of the present day. Some of the similarities are, I think, remarkable.

The two Asian super-powers of their respective times, Imperial Japan and Communist China both were remarkably short of strategic resources. Things like coal, oil and iron ore back then and now. China uses it's economic strength to buy what it needs while Japan used it's military strength to steal what it needed.Japan made plenty of noise about its military strength and was able to conquer many smaller and weaker nations and later eject the naive and foolish British from Singapore. However, when push came to shove Japan was defeated by the might of the US economy. Yamamoto predicted as much straight after the pearl Harbour raid.I suggest that is where China sits currently.Today, China makes makes a prick of itself in the South China Sea while Japan, South Korea,The Philipines and others try to look the other way, as if to say "Well we can't do much about it, so why worry?"I suggest once Iran has been settled down by Israel, the US and their friends, the next venue for competition will be Asia with China as the centerpiece. One sees little commentary on the relationship, if any, between China and Russia but with such a long mutual border there is potential for mischief from either side of it. (Would China invade Russia? Possibly. There's a hell of a lot of oil and agricultural potential to be had.)At one stage I wondered if we might wake up one morning to find Putin and Xi had done a Molotov/Ribbentrop deal. But then, if you take that analogy a step further, you would not be surprised to see shortly thereafter, Russia, The US and Western Europe in an alliance, albeit tense, taking on Red China.For me, the enigma in the whole shebang is trying to work out 'What is China's game? What is it really after?('Some Musings' is what happens when you come out of hospital and have a day for the anesthetic to wear off.)

Monday, May 14, 2018

Who are the politicians, past and present, for whom you have nothing but contempt? Exclude those for whom there are equal amounts of contempt and respect, along with those who were simply tyrants. Here's my list:-

Sunday, May 13, 2018

I do not share Simon Bridges' concern over the increased package of aid to pacific countries announced this week. This is our backyard and this is where our focus should and must be.

The reality is that there is an aid gap and the Chinese government is ready, willing and able to to step up to the plate in return for .... you tell me.

They've been quietly (and not so quietly) buying up influence in the region for the last couple of decades and we let that continue unchecked at our peril. In that context it is heartening to see the Australian government and the EU signal their preparedness to do more because more is needed.

Like it or not we're players in an aid war where recipients can become the equivalent of 'rice Christians' ... countries prepared to play off one side off against the other in return for ever more aid. Tuilaepa Malielegaoi, the Samoan Prime Minister said as much earlier this week. The trick for the NZL government is to ensure our aid monies is directed at enhancing the living standards of ordinary people and not on political vanity projects (or politician's pockets).

I suspect I'm telling MFAT what they already know in spades when I say that any aid provided to Tonga requires special scrutiny. Tonga remains a feudal kingdom beset by endemic corruption. It is a parliamentary democracy in name only. The real power is in the hands of Tonga's 33 'noble' families who control the land leases and a Privy Council who does the King's bidding.

Saturday, May 12, 2018

As a keen student of Malaysian and Singaporean politics I never thought I would see the day when the Barisan Nasional (BN) alliance would lose power in Malaysia. The alliance, in its various guises, but always with the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) as the dominant partner, has been in power since Merdeka in 1957.

The BN was decimated reduced to 79 seats in the 222 seat Dewat Rakyat (Parliament) down 54 seats. This is spite of a clear gerrymandering of electoral boundaries earlier this year in a move designed to shore up BN support.

The election saw the Chinese and Indian components of the BN (the Malaysian Chinese Association and and Malaysian Indian Congress - MCA and MIC) almost wiped out and reduced to one seat and two seats respectively. Out of the twelve States the BN only has a majority of seats in three of them (Sabah, Perlis and Pahang).

The catalyst for the Opposition Pakatan Harapan (Party of Hope) victory was the decision of the 92 year old Mahathar Mohamad (Malaysia's 4th Prime Minister 1981-2003) to quit UMNO in 2016 over the continuing corruption scandal that has haunted Najab Razak, the outgoing PM, and the UMNO Party for the last five years. Mahathar became the titular head of Pakatan Harapan.

While Mahathar has already been installed as the countries seventh PM it is an interim measure only.
He has indicated he will seek a Royal Pardon for the jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim (his erstwhile Deputy when he was PM and who he himself had jailed on what are widely considered to be trumped up charges of sodomy ... whoever said Malaysian politics was boring?).

UMNO lived 'high on the hog' for many years running roughshod over the opposition. It will be 'interesting' to see how they adapt to being in opposition. Just as interesting is how the opposition will react to being in government. 61 years is a long long time to be waiting in the wings ... not far behind Charlie boy.

NZL is enjoying near record low unemployment and strong economic growth all per courtesy of the last National government.

Yesterday self and Mrs Veteran were at a luncheon where we were seated next to a farmer from Ruawai who runs a major kumara growing operation. He was tearing his hair out ... reason ... no workers. Yesterday he needed fifty ... he got two. Said that many referred to him by WINZ don't last. Some walk off the job after one day and don't even bother to return to pick up their pay packet.

And all this from a gummit pledged to cut immigration numbers. Labour by 20-30,000 and NZ First from 70,000 down to just 10,000.

Against that backdrop would it be churlish to ask that nice Mr Jones how he proposes to make good on his promise to get his cuzzie bros off the couch planting those one billion trees.

Thursday, May 10, 2018

As I write this an aircraft is about to touch down at Andrews AFB just outside Washington with three Americans freed from prison in the DKR on the orders of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un.

Last week in Wellington I was party to a briefing on North Korea by a senior MFAT diplomat. He made the following points:

#1 The economic sanctions, engineered by Trump and Xi Jinping, have had a devastating effect on the North Korean economy.

#2 Kim Jong-Un is his own man. Western educated he is NOT like his father.

#3 The North Koreans had the measure of Obama. Talk tough but when push came to shove he wimped out. With Trump it's different. His very unpredictably has them 'spooked' (my words).

#4 Up until now Kim has enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with his Generals but that may be changing as technocrats in the ruling Workers Party appear to be challenging the old guard leadership with the support of Kim.

#5 Underpinning the talks that are about to talk place between Trump and Kim is the reality that the North Koreans have reneged on every agreement they have ever signed regarding their nuclear weapons program. The West will insist on unfettered and ongoing access to the DKRs nuclear sites in return for the lifting of sanctions. It is moot whether North Korea will agree to this.

#6 The talks could either go very well or very badly.

#7 North Korea has the largest military in the world. The KPA has 1,106,000 active and 8,389,000
reserve and para military troops. How will the Generals react to any attempt to scale back the military ... how does an essentially peasant economy absorb any significant demobilization?

Adolf has just red an essay on Franklin D Roosevelt's inaction for two years (1942 to 1944) on the matter of Nazi persecution and murder of German Jews. The following paragraph fell out and clattered all over the floor:-

Understandably, FDR had other priorities and was troubled by and hindered by various factors – for example, interagency battles within the administration and the hostile swamp of the State Department in which Breckinridge Long, former ambassador and assistant secretary of state, played a major role in blocking visas for German Jewish refugees, and deliberately preventing information about mass murder of Jews from becoming known to Congress and the media.

Brekenridge Long seems like a role model for the traitorous dupe John Kerry.

I must say I'm not sure what the hell FDR was supposed to do, other than win the war. Apparently there are some who said and still say the USAF should have bombed Auswitz. That seems to me to be a mighty strange way to help the Jewish inmates.

Twice in the last couple of weeks ACT's David Seymour has sat Prime Minister Ardern down on her backside sulking at Question Time with her yesterday declining to answer a fair and reasonable question - ably aided by Speaker Mallard of course. To date she easily bats away Simon Bridges questions and often uses them as a means to belittle the previous National Government and Bridges himself, something which Bridges seems incapable of dealing with as he sits there and takes it. Here is a solution - a few weeks ago The Green Party passed their weekly allocation of questions over to National and I urge National to pass that allocation on to ACT so that David Seymour has more opportunity to deal to Prime Minister Ardern and other ministers and hold them to account as is not being done at present. Lets do this.

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

My recent criticism of a beyond the fringe solution for the Akaroa waste water disposal brought some not very surprising push back.

In the light of Posy Parker's intemperate comments, reported in media, that cow numbers per Hectare might need to be capped and even reduced, in the flawed and totally dopey "Swimable River" moronic 'lets kick all farmers and horticulturists' campaign.

For a starter for ten, just what numbers of New Zealanders might ever have an urge to ever head off to a pond in a waterway for a freekin swim?

For years now OPM spenders have built ever larger and expensive Aquatic centers complete with paddling pools, diving pools, water slides, life guards, and water so safe you might swim in it. Then some nice person brown bombs it and the water is all flushed and replaced. Monuments to stupidity that will never cover running costs let alone any capital cost recovery. Yet citizens still drown themselves in an increasing drowning toll, year on year. School and smaller community pools close because of the economics.

Then there is the continual embarrassment of local government failures resulting in "Unswimable Beaches" from sewerage contamination of still popular open sea areas near many of our larger metropolitan areas. Now perhaps Posy, the suggestion from some cows meeting recently, that maybe there should be a cap and sinking lid on numbers of wannabe politicians masquerading as control freaks, is not so far from the truth.

Now. back to the hair raising idea that pumping waste water from Akaroa into the ground under pressure to below sea level is viable. Posy has concerns that cows on the plains crapping and weeing on pastures somehow threatens Canterbury's ground water, at what ever number of cows per hectare, congregating or standing on nature's filter of gravels many meters above the aquifiers.

The main constant that continues with opposition to all options for disposing of the treated waste from Akaroa comes from the local Maori and their Kaik Marae a few kms south of the supposedly disgusting treatment plant at Greens Point where following a combination of screening, agitation and primary treatment the resulting "porridge" is piped offshore into the harbour. Now, I can see that in these enlightened times, that process might need a review and one solution would be to pipe that partly treated effluent further south to the heads where the massive flushing effect of the tides will result in such minor effects being not worthy of complaint.

Of course there is an elephant in the room with Ngai Tahu opposition to any suggestion of others' poo ending in their Harbour threatening their Kai Moana. When there is a Hui, a Tangi, or any of the commercial opportunities that are increasingly a part of Marae activities, no points for guessing what happens to the effluent generated by numbers at times in the thousands. The deposits of those "visitors' are flushed into grossly overloaded Septic systems designed many moons ago for a small population of Maori living on their ancestral lands and well before the present day cultural and commercial opportunities arose.

Anecdotal responses from fishermen and tourist operators using the harbour, indicate whenever a large gathering occurs at The Kaik, the open sewer delivers untreated waste direct into the sea leading to algal blooms, effluent stench and sea lettuce growth rates drifting around the mouth of the very small creek, into the adjacent sea.

It is an embarrassing facet of marae life, never making an appearance in any meetings or discussions around Akaroa waste water disposal, as such comment would be offensive and therefore forbidden.

As a New Zealand citizen, and therefore an investor in and potential beneficiary of the Super fund, I am 100% opposed to this investment which is stupid in the extreme. Surely the role of the Superfund is to provide the best possible returns to the benefit of all New Zealanders and not to invest loss making ventures like Auckland Light Rail?

I consider the Trustees and Management of the Superfund are abdicating from their obligations and responsibilities if they allow this investment to proceed. My wife and I hold KiwiSaver funds which are largely invested off shore and returning in the order of 20% after tax over the last 5 years. Obtaining similar returns should be the objective of Superfund Trustees, not investing in known black holes as they are proposing. In saying that, I acknowledge they will make mistakes and have investments that return a loss from time to time, but knowingly entering into such an investment is a different matter entirely.

Finally they should not allow an incompetent finance minister to become involved in their investment strategies and processes.